Many agencies give extra protection to private entities for a fee, said
Richard Carey, deputy director of the state Association of Chiefs of
Police.
“I think it’s done pretty much across the state on a fairly
regular basis,” he said.
In New Hartford, when police are contracted out
to private locations or events, an hourly fee is charged to reimburse the town
for the officer’s salary and overtime.
Calls to other area municipalities
revealed a range of systems.
Oneida County Sheriff’s
Office
Undersheriff M. Peter Paravati said his department
provides services to numerous private entities for a fee.
The Sheriff’s
Office has put extra patrols on the roads near the Oneida Indian Nation’s
Atunyote Golf Course during its PGA event, and asked for a fee of $18,000, he
said.
“We are responsible for the public safety in the whole perimeter
of the area, and we are responsible for making sure this kind of event doesn’t
impact the public safety,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office also contracts
with several local criminal courts and provides security for some firemen’s
field days, he said.
The Sheriff’s Office charges about $62 per hour per
deputy, he said. That cost covers the deputy’s hourly rate, as well as a
prorated portion of benefits including workers compensation, Social Security and
health care, he said.
Figures for what the Sheriff’s Office makes from
such events were not immediately available.
Utica Police
Dept.
The Utica Police Department recently stopped providing
police services to events that are not sponsored by the city in some form, city
officials said.
“It’s a decision we have made based on potential
liability that the city might face should something occur during one of these
private security events,” Utica Corporation Counsel Linda Sullivan Fatata said.
For example, Utica Police no longer patrol church festivals. They do,
however, cover events at Utica Memorial Auditorium and the Utica Zoo, and patrol
the streets outside the summer’s Saranac Thursday events, documents supplied by
the department show.
Deputy Police Chief Michael Bailey said his
department doesn’t make a profit from the practice. Utica charges about $48 per
hour for patrols, which includes overtime pay, police said.
Whitestown
Police Dept.
Whitestown Police Chief Donald Wolanin said there were few
private events in his jurisdiction, but his officers do sometimes patrol school
sporting events.
When his officers patrol events at a school, they are
paid by the school, not his department, he said.
“It keeps us a little
out of it, and it doesn’t affect my budget,” he said. “It’s one of the few
chances our police officers have to make some extra money.”
